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Thursday, September 5, 2013

Place Review: Space Knights (BETA)

It's been too long since I've written an article, so I chose Space Knights! to review, created by RaceToTheBottom. At about 5,000 players currently online, it is by far the game with the most people online as I write this. I honestly expected this to be a huge scam, and I believed that for 10 minutes as I tried to get in to a game. Luckily, after a bit of patience, the game loaded. To follow this, I would like to add that if you are stuck on "Waiting for Character", be patient. It eventually works. With all that aside, let's get to the gameplay.

Gameplay

Solid and simple, Space Knights is a wave-based game where you and the others playing try to protect the core, located in a corner of the map. When you enter the game/respawn, you are greeted by a GUI with all of the weapons you can currently equip. These are decided by your level. With each monster kill, you gain more XP towards the next level. The amount of XP that you receive is based on the monster type that you kill. There are Normal monsters, Wall Climbers (Self-explanatory), Boomers (Also self-explanatory), Night Crawlers (Big and try to kill you), Sky Screamers (Drop bombs on you as it flies overhead), and many more. Each level unlocks a new set of weapons in the GUI. You start with an Axe and Bow, then you receive a Sword and Gun, etc. As the game goes on, you are paid in Shards, which you can use for special abilities. This allows you to have a speed boost, slow all the enemies, heal the core, and so forth. From top to bottom on the left, the GUIs tell you how many blocks you have left to build your walls with, how many monsters are left in the wave, what level you are and how much XP you have, and the Core's status. The only minus is that you level up way too fast, and I hit the Space Knight rank in 15 minutes at most. Dying doesn't set you back at all, you can just keep playing after choosing your load-out.

Building

Not bad, actually. It is a block based game, so don't expect a lot from the terrain. The creator does show a talent in the suit that you are dressed in, though, which is amazing. The intricate detail looks great on the character and fits perfectly with the colors of the weapons. You can see an example of them in the thumbnail, which is shown at the top of this post. The simple terrain is actually nice, and I personally like it that way. It reduces the lag, and makes the gameplay better.

Scripting

Space Knights is scripted beautifully, absolutely with no errors. I haven't seen a single problem with it at all. The screen GUIs are fantastic, look fantastic, and work fantastically. There isn't a lot to say here, except that the swords don't work well due to the fact that they usually swing above the monsters, with the monsters being so short.

Rating:

Gameplay: 8.5/10

Decent gameplay, though like I said, the swords swing too high and don't hit the monster unless you are lower than it. The bows could reload faster, and it would also be nice if you could purchase permanent upgrades to your health, walkspeed, damage with weapons, and how far you can shoot the bow, for example. Then again, it is currently in Beta.

Scripting: 9.5/10

Flawless, but not perfect. There's a difference.

Creativity: 8/10

Would have been lower, but I like how this takes and old idea of a game like "Survive the _________" (a genre where the games are copied beyond anything I've ever seen) and combines it with wave-by-wave action and battle.

Overall: 8.7/10

I will probably re-rate this after it is finished. But for now, an 8.7, which is pretty dang good on my scale. Can't wait to play this when it's finished. I like the simplicity of it. Some games are just too complicated.